OK, today we're going to be in
that passage I read in Matthew chapter 22. The name of the message
is The Wedding Garment. And I read that passage of scripture
in the Bible to start this morning, so we could get right into the
message this morning. The lessons we're seeing in this
scripture, this portion of scripture, are heart lessons. for all whom
the gospel of God's grace are preached to. In this passage
that we'll look at today, we'll see spiritual elements, spiritual pictures, speaking
of us today. And if we have ears to hear and
eyes to see. And I pray the Holy Spirit will
show us this. We'll see four spiritual lessons in the scriptures
today. Four spiritual lessons. Let's look at these first four
verses. And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made
a marriage for his son. and sent forth his servants to
call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not
come." Now that's all of us by nature, isn't it? Bidden, but
just dig our heels in. I don't want to go to that wedding.
This is the marriage supper of the Lamb. My. They would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants.
First servants are rejected, so he sends out more servants,
telling them which are bidden, behold, I prepared my dinner,
my oxen, my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. Come unto the marriage. Well,
we see here in our text that the kingdom of heaven, kingdom
of God, is compared to a wedding feast. And we also have a picture
of judgment upon those who refuse Christ. We'll see that later
on in this passage. But we also see the sovereign
grace and mercy upon those who are the chosen of God, the elect
of God. And in this parable, along with
the parable of the two sons in Matthew 20 verses 28 to 32, and
the parable of the husband and men in Matthew 20 verses 33 and
34. In this parable, the marriage
feast, our Savior shows us, he shows us why God cast off the
nation of Israel and sent the gospel to the Gentiles. And without question, this was
all part of God's purpose and plan. Because who was Christ
sent for? Sent to? He was sent to the Israelites,
wasn't he? He was sent to the nation of
Israel. And we know that God had a people
scattered in there. But most of the nation rejected
Christ, didn't it? And God, as part of his plan
and purpose from eternity, predestinated the fall of the Jews and the
very means by which he would save his elect among the Gentiles.
Again, it's all planned and purposed by God. Everything we see occur
in this world is planned and purposed by God. Now, people
say, well, why does all this killing and murder happen? Well,
because of man's sin. Because of our sin. Why do wars
happen? Because men lust for power. Right? Have you ever noticed that man
is constantly trying to make peace? Even now they're having
peace talks. And they're not working, are they? They've been
having peace talks in the Middle East for years. They're not working,
are they? And you know what? They won't work. that even after World War II,
World War I, World War II, huge world wars, right? There's still
wars after that. You know why? Because men are
sinners. That's why. That's the bottom line. Because
we're sinners. Now, you talk to folks about
that. Oh, no. Come on. What are you talking about? I'm
not a sinner. Yeah, you are. Whether you believe it or not,
yeah, you are. My, oh, my. But we're seeing here and here.
that God, it was God's purpose from eternity to save his elect
among the Jews and the Gentiles. And always remember that there's
no accidents in God's universe. There's no accidents in God's
universe, not at all. The cause of divine judgment
upon the nation of Israel, you know what the cause of the judgment
upon the nation of Israel was? Their unbelief. Their unbelief. Do you know what
the cause of the judgment of God upon sinners who die without
Christ? Is their unbelief. They're dying
because of their sins, aren't they? But their judgment falls
upon them because of their unbelief. Because of their sins. And it'll fall on us. if it wasn't for the mercy of
God that it fell on Christ for us. Oh my. The cause of divine judgment
upon the nation of Israel was their unbelief. And so it is
for all who are outside of Christ, right? It's true. And that's what makes
the mercy of God so incredible to us, so astounding to us, because
we were in a state of unbelief. The scripture says we were enemies
at one time in our minds with God. Whether we thought it or
not, we were. We were in a state of unbelief.
We had created who we thought God was, or we may not have had
any view of God. We might have had a Nirvana idea
in our brains, right? But we had something. But like
we saw with Paul this morning, all that was destroyed when the
Lord saved us. Now we're built on the foundation
of Christ and Him alone. We're on a sure foundation. Now
we have a hope. We have a real hope now. You know, we have a
living hope now. I was talking to somebody this
week, and I said, it was Joshua. My mom was a devout Catholic,
and she had given him a cross. And he found this little cross,
and I said, look at that. There, Jesus is on the cross
still. He ain't risen. And this series
we're doing now, which next week we'll look at the crucifixion,
and then the week after that we're gonna look at the resurrection.
This is all part of the resurrection series, the building up to Christ's
death on the cross and then his resurrection. Remember, this
is all happening within this five days. This is one of the
parables he gave during that time. And he's warning them,
isn't he? In a parable, he's warning them
of judgment to come. And those who are outside of
Christ, Those who reject Christ will spend an eternity in hell. And yet the cause of divine judgment
upon the nation of Israel was and is their unbelief. Who did
Christ come to first? The nation of Israel. That's
who he came to, right? Came unto his own, but his own
what? Received him not. The Messiah comes to them. and
they reject him. All those types and shadows were
pointing to him, and here he is, guarded, coronated in the
flesh. And they spit on him. They stood at the foot of the
cross and railed on him. They sought to trap him in his
life and kill him. That's what they desired. See,
man in our natural state hates God. And I know that because
I was there. Maybe not outwardly sad, but
by our actions we sure showed it. And think of this. God gave the
law to Israel, didn't he? He was a chosen nation. Israel
was a chosen nation out of all the other nations. Not because
of anything in them. They were the smallest nation.
God chose them, though, didn't he? Something I gotta throw in
here real quick. People have a hard time with
the doctrine of election. The fact that God has chosen
the people. But if you talk to them about the angels, that God
had allowed a certain one-third of the angels to fall. And you
know what the other angels are called? The elect angels. Okay? God chose Israel out of
all the nations. This is a good thing to show
folks. This is what helped me to understand the doctrine of
election. All the nations around the world, God only chose Israel. Left everybody behind. You know,
you talk to most religious folks, they don't have a problem with
that. That's called election. God chose them. Right? He chose that nation out of all
the other nations in this world. All those sacrifices, they weren't
for any of the other nations around Israel, were they? They
were only for the nation of Israel. That shows limited atonement. That Christ died for his people.
But you start telling them that God chooses people, which we
see right here. Many are called, but few are
what? Chosen. And they'll go squirrelly on
you. They're fine with God being sovereign over the weather. They're
fine with God being sovereign over the ocean and all the fish
and everything in it. They're fine with God having
a group of angels that fell and a group of angels that are called
the elect angels. They're fine with God choosing
Israel and leaving everybody else behind, but when you say
God chose the people that were his own and he died for them,
well, that's a whole different story, isn't it? You know why? Because it hits right to the
bone. Now it's personal. But we who are the elect of God,
we rejoice, don't we, in the fact that He chose us, because
we never would have chosen Him. Never. We never would have come
to Him. I was so proud and stiff-necked,
and the Lord broke me. And I know that's what He did
for you, who are believers. Oh, aren't you thankful? Aren't
you thankful he saved you? Aren't you thankful he chose
you in eternity? I sure am. Oh, my Paul was, he wrote a lot
about it, didn't he? Oh, it's wonderful. We don't
boast in it, but we're so thankful that God did that for us. So
when Christ came, he preached the gospel to none but the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. He preached to the nation of
Israel. That's who he was sent to. He preached to them. Yet that nation, being blinded
by their religious leaders and all the traditions that they
had piled up through the years, that which was true worship had
totally changed into a whole different thing. They despised, the nation despised
the mercy that God had sent to them, and that being Christ. the gospel of his grace and his
dear sons. Now they feverishly adhered to
the rites and ceremonies, didn't they? So much that they condemned
anyone who just stepped a little bit out of the line. One of your
disciples eating corn on the Sabbath. The Lord showed him it wasn't
a sin, was it? Oh, my. You ever think of this, too?
Vicki and I was talking about this this morning. All these folks who
say, they're called Sabbatarians. So they make Sunday or Saturday
like this holy day. It's wonderful for us, isn't
it? It's a time we can come and fellowship. And they say, well,
you shouldn't work on Sunday. You shouldn't do this. You shouldn't
do that. But it's OK to go out to a restaurant and eat. Well,
some other person has to work and feed you, right? It's okay
to go to a grocery store and pick up a cup of groceries while
some worker checks you out. We went to a church that they
were staunch on that, but yet they all went out to eat. Vicki said, well look, they were
just considered the heathens that were feeding them. Oh my. I'm so glad God saved
me by his grace and took me out of all that stuff. Oh my goodness. Think of this, too. Here comes
John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, and they ignored
him. The who's who of religion ignored
him. The people, the common people came to him, didn't they? The
ones that God had ordained to come to him, the ones who were
looking for the Messiah, came to him by God's grace. And when God's own son came,
they hung him on a cross. hung them on a cross. And God sent the apostles and
disciples of Christ to proclaim Christ the risen Lord. And what
happened to them? They killed them. They slew them. But in 70 AD, the Lord God sent
the Roman army under the command of Titus into Jerusalem. And he laid a waste to the temple. He laid waste to Jerusalem. By
the hand of Titus, God destroyed both Jerusalem and the nation
of Israel. And at the end of Daniel's seventieth week, the
house of Israel was left desolate. Desolate. And we're going to see that later
on in our text. Their light was turned into darkness,
wasn't it? Never again would that nation
have a word from God or a visitation of His grace. God said to His
servants, Israel will not hear, leave her alone. Go ye therefore into the highways
of the world. Go into the highways of the world,
and as many as you find, whether Jew or Gentile, doesn't matter
if they're Jew, doesn't matter if they're Gentile, bid them
to come. Bid them to come to the marriage feast. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. We have before us in this parable
of the marriage feast again a third in the trilogy of judgment parables,
parables by which our Lord describes the basis of God's judgment and
also the Judgment upon those who despise his privileges and
his grace. See, judgment will fall whether
people believe it or not. The Lord is coming back. He's
coming back. Look at verses two to four again. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, sent
forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding,
and they would not come. And he sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are our bidden. Behold, I have prepared
my dinner, and my oxen, and my fatlings are killed. All things
are ready. Come to the marriage. Come to the marriage. Then look
at verse 7. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth. And he sent forth his armies, and what? Destroyed
those murderers, and burned up their city. Singular. Burned up their city. My, oh,
my. Take note of this feast. All
is prepared. All is prepared. The guests don't bring nothing.
Everything's prepared. The table's set. It's a banquet
for a king. It's a banquet for a prince. My, because it's the king's son. They're celebrating his marriage. And look at this. Tell them which
are bidden. Behold, I prepared my dinner. God's prepared this
dinner, this table. My oxen and my fountains are
killed. And I love these words here. And all things are ready. Everything's ready. Come unto
the marriage. Beloved God, there is a gospel,
there is in the gospel a complete provision, a complete provision
for all the wants of a man or woman's souls. There's a complete,
all things are ready. There's a complete provision,
there's nothing lacking for the salvation of our souls, nothing. Everything that could be required
to relieve spiritual hunger and thirst is provided. And it's
all in Christ. It's all in Him. In Christ, the
one whom the gospel speaks of, there's pardon. Pardon of all
our sins. There's peace with God. There's
justification before God. There's sanctification to be
made holy in Christ. And it's all in Him. And it's We have that as believers
in this world, and we also have it in the world to come. Isn't that wonderful? Just because our state of being
will change does not affect what we have
in Christ. We'll just be in heaven glorifying
our King. We'll step through death's door and be in the land of the living.
We're going to leave the land of the dead, those dead in spiritual
sins, dead in trespassing sins. And beloved, when we step through
that door of death, we're going to enter the land of the living. We'll be more alive then than
we've ever been here. And we have no sin. Oh, isn't that glorious? So in
the gospel, this is all set before the listener in the preaching
of the gospel. Full provision in Christ, and God has provided
it. All things are ready. All things
are provided for the sinner. All that a sinner needs is found
in Christ. Paul wrote that all spiritual
blessings are in Christ. That means peace, pardon, forgiveness
of sins, justification, sanctification, redemption, Atonement. They're all in Christ for the
believer. Full provision in Christ for
all the payment of our sins. And this provision is in abundance.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that blood. Lose what? All their guilty
stains. All of them, beloved. Gone. Never to be remembered anymore. Dan and I were talking yesterday,
and Dan was bringing up, you go east, you keep going east,
you're always going east. But you go north and south, you're
going to hit a pole, right? That's why the Lord said that
as far as the east is from the west, your sins are forgiven,
because there's no stopping them. You're going east, you're always
going east. You're never going to find an end. You go north to south, you're
going to hit south. You're no longer going north.
You go south, you go up to north, you're going to hit north. But
not that way with east and west. Brother Brian, if you're going
east and I'm going west, we'd just pass each other by as we're
going that way. But we'd still be going east
and west, wouldn't we? My, oh my, it's amazing. God don't remember
our sins anymore. Fall, fall, all things are ready. All things are ready. My peace
with God, justification before God, sanctification before God,
a full pardon of all our sins. How can this be so, one may ask?
All in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in his shed precious,
precious blood. All this provision is also owing
to the love that God has for his people, an eternal love,
an unchanging love. His love for us is the same yesterday,
today, and it will be forever, beloved. It never changes. Look at verse four, it says,
again, he sent forth other servants, tell them which are bidden. Behold,
I have prepared my dinner, my ox and my fat ones are killed,
and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. That's
why we stand up and say, come to Christ. Come to Christ. That's called a general call.
It goes out to everyone. Come to Christ. Right? What I'm supposed to do is preach
the gospel to whoever's listening and whoever will listen. And let God do the work. Let him do all the work. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's not of the preacher. It's
of the Lord. we're living proof of that, aren't
we? Each one of us are living proof of that. But look at that,
all things are ready. Sinner friend, this old sinner
and my dear sinner friends here, we found that all things are
ready, haven't we? We found that everything is provided. My sins
are so black, so dark, and yet I'm made white as snow by the
blood of Christ. Wash clean, Imagine if our thoughts
were ripped open for all the world to see for a minute. Oh
my! Wash clean in the precious blood
of Christ, beloved. Wash clean. I like what Donnie
Bell said. He said, I can sit in my easy
chair at home and I can get so mad. so mad at folks and so mad
at things going on, just be sinning so much. And then he gets convicted,
like all of us do. Oh, Lord, please forgive me.
Oh, forgive me, Lord. But it ain't hard to get all
worked up, is it? It's in us, beloved. Let us keep looking
to Christ. Let us rejoice that all things
are ready. Everything's being prepared. And that's the cry
out to our sinner friends, isn't it? All things are ready. Flee
to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
There's no hope outside of Christ. None. Only condemnation. Oh, my. And still natural man
refuses, right? That's all of us, right? That's
all of us in our natural state. Even we who are saved, we can't
say, well, look at those folks. They're such sinners, right? Remember that Pharisee? Look
at that publican. I could just hear his words,
just pompous, you know, and so self-righteous. Thank you, God,
that I'm not like that Pharisee, or that publican, I mean. And
there's that publican. He's like you and I. He's not
even looking up. Oh, Lord, forgive me. Be merciful
to me, Lord. I'm such a sinner. That's our
state now, isn't it? Even after the Lord saved us,
isn't it? We still cry out to God, don't we? God, be merciful
to me. I know I'm but a saved sinner.
Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you that you don't
give me what I deserve. My. Praise be to God that God incarnated
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, brings we who are his
people into a union with himself. He restores us, doesn't he, to
the family of God. We fell in Adam. We're dead in
trespasses and sins. We totally fell in Adam. And
he restores us in the second Adam, doesn't he? He's the head
and we're the body. Adam was the federal head of
all mankind. Christ is the federal head of his people. And we're
restored in him, beloved. Restored, and he's the head and
we're the body. And then, and then, he clothes
us in that beautiful wedding garment. You know what that wedding garment
is? That's the righteousness of Christ, beloved. And it's
God who puts that on us. See, in our own works, we're
putting our arm in the sleeve of good works, right? Trying
to button up the jacket of morality. Oh, let me get this jacket. It
keeps coming open, right? It's true, isn't it? And put the other sleeve on of
I'm a good person. Oh yeah, I'm a good person. I'm
not a bad person. Right? Clothing ourselves in our own
self-righteousness. That's what we did. But isn't
that wonderful? And in Joshua, there's a portion
in Joshua where the Lord takes, or not Joshua in another portion
of Scripture, where the Lord takes the filthy garments off
Joshua and clothes him. That's a picture of what he does
for us. He takes our filthy self-righteousness off us. Right? And clothes us
in the wedding garment of Christ. God does that, beloved. Remember
the father said, bring the best robe for the son? That's the
righteousness of Christ. And the father closed the prodigal
son. Put it on him! Put it on him. Oh my, it's wonderful. And you
know, this is the missing note. This is the missing note of today's
preaching and today's religion, is they do not speak of the righteousness
of Christ. because they're trying to establish
their own righteousness. I went to church for years and
never heard about the righteousness of Christ. For years. In what would be called evangelical
churches. And never heard about the righteousness
of Christ. But it's so vital. Then I start
reading Spurgeon's sermons and he's bringing out the fact of
the righteousness of Christ and I'm like, I never heard this
before. And then they heard Henry Mann
preach on this. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the truth. But how did I know that? By the
revelation of God, right? By the Holy Spirit regenerating
me, like he did you, and teaching us the gospel. Not by revelation
like Paul received, no, not like that. But the Holy Spirit teaches
us the things of Christ, draws us, woos us to Christ, beloved.
And we find out that all things are ready. The question is, are
you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Do you need
Christ? And I ask this even to saved folks. Do you realize that
we're sinners and that we need Christ every day? I have a friend
of mine, he claims to be a believer, but when you start talking about
being a sinner, he kind of like darts a little bit and never,
you know, never really, I'm there like, man, I'm just a saved sinner.
And he's like, oh, yeah, I'm saved. And, you know, but never
says, you know, I don't like that sinner word, do they? Oh
my. My. We find out real fast that
we're sinners, don't we? And the gospel, in short, is
an offer of food to the hungry. Right? Are you starving for Christ?
Do you realize that you're a bankrupt sinner? That's what we are in our natural
state. And it's also joy to the mourner, isn't it? Because when
the Lord's working on us, he brings us down. He tears down
that foundation that we had in our minds, and he builds us up
in Christ, doesn't he? And you know what? I like this.
It's a home to the outcast. It's a home to rebels. Christ is a city, a refuge to
rebels. Praise be to God. Praise be to
God, yes. My. And he's Christ's a loving
friend to the lost, isn't he? We know that as believers. He's
a loving friend to the lost, because we were lost at one time. Praise God, now we're saved,
but he's a loving friend. And the gospel is glad tidings.
God offers through his dear son, to be one with sinful men. The
gospel goes out to all, doesn't it? The cry, the gospel, come
to the wedding feast, goes out to all. Let us never forget this. In
this was manifest the love of God towards us, because God sent
his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through
him. Herein is love. Not that we love God, because
we didn't, did we? But he loved us. and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins." That's incredible,
isn't it? And we see in verse 3 here that
the servants went out to those who were bidden. Look at Matthew
22, 3. And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden
to the wedding, and they would not come. They didn't. No, we're
not. Everything's ready, but we're not coming. The servants
are saying, everything's ready. You don't have to bring anything.
Just come. Just come to the wedding feast. All things are ready,
come to the marriage. Behold, I prepared my dinner,
my ox and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come
unto the marriage. And the invitations of the gospel
are wide and full and broad and unlimited, beloved. The Lord
Jesus tells us that the king's servants said to those who were
bidden, all things are ready. There's the general call, isn't
it? All things are ready. I don't know who the elected
God is. God knows it, but I don't. So I preach the gospel to everyone. And there's nothing lacking on
God's part for the salvation of sinners. He's provided everything. He's provided it all. There's
absolutely nothing lacking for the salvation of sinners on God's
part. Nothing. No one will be able to say, well,
it's God's fault that I wasn't saved. No one will be able to
say that, because the provision is there, isn't it? Now, the
Father is ready to love and receive. The Son is ready to pardon and
cleanse guilt away. The Spirit is ready to sanctify
and renew. Angels are ready to rejoice over
the returning sinner. Grace is ready to assist those
who come to Christ. The Bible's ready to instruct
them. Heaven's ready to be their everlasting home. I ask you, what else is needful? And remember, if you go to heaven,
it'll be all the grace. All the grace. But if you go
to hell, it'll be all you. You're fully responsible. We
are fully responsible beings. The gospel always speaks to sinners
as responsible and accountable beings. The gospel places an
open door before mankind. That's the general call. Isn't
it? Whosoever shall come, as you
said, brother, whosoever shall come, let him come. Take of the
water of life freely. Take of the water of life freely.
No one's excluded from that offer. Again, it's called the general
call. It goes out to all who will hear it. Now we know it's
only the Holy Spirit can make it effectual, right? But that
still doesn't stop the preacher from preaching to all. No, it's a general call. See,
the preacher makes the general call. The Holy Spirit does the
effectual call. Salvation's on the Lord. And though few enter the straight
gate, all are invited to come in. Also, a man's not lost because
he's not elect. People say that all the time.
You know why a man's lost? Because they won't come to Christ.
They won't come to Christ. They refuse to come to Christ.
In my natural state, I refused. I had multiple people in my life
come to me and talk to me about the Bible and talk to me about
Scripture, and I refused to listen to them. Like I said earlier,
I had my ears plugged. Stop talking to me. But one day,
God didn't allow me to put my fingers in my ears. My, that's why it's important
to be under the sound of the gospel. People can be not listening,
and not listening, and one day, boom, they hear something. My,
oh my. They may listen to it. Thousands
of hearers of the gospel have no benefit. They say, I didn't
get anything out of that. Well, I'll tell you what, that's
not the preacher's fault. Not if he's preaching the gospel. When we start thinking that way,
we need to be on our face, beloved, because only the Holy Spirit
can teach us. And if the Holy Spirit's not teaching us, we
better be shaking in our boots. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So the general call goes out,
goes out to all who hear it. Few will enter. And the salvation of the gospel
is rejected by many to whom it's offered. Let's read verse 5 here.
of Matthew 22. We see this right in the text.
Salvation, you know, and as I said before, never forget the rock
we were hewn from. At one time, we rejected the
gospel. But God, by his mercy and grace, regenerated us, eh? Because you know what? If he
hadn't done that, you know where we'd be? We'd still be rejected. That's a miracle, isn't it? Wonder
of wonders. Wonder of wonders, God gives
hearing ears and seeing eyes to look to Christ. That's incredible. Don't ever forget that. Don't
make it be commonplace. It's absolutely incredible. Absolutely,
because so many don't hear. Look at verse 5, but they made
light of it. So they were all bidden to the marriage, come!
Just like the gospel call, come to Christ! So many just make
light of it. I'll come tomorrow. What if tomorrow
doesn't come? Oh, I'm so young, I've got to
live some of my life. Talk to some of us who tried
to do that. And we'll tell you it's just emptiness. There's nothing there but sorrow
and pain and loneliness. They made light of it. And what
did they do? They went their ways. The farmer went back to
his farm. The merchandise seller, the restauranteur
went back to his restaurant. The worker went back to wherever
they worked. Don't want to have nothing to do with that. But
everything's free, isn't it? They don't have to bring anything.
The meal's free. Everything's provided for free.
Everything. Everything. It's a gift of the king, isn't
it? Ah. For by grace are we saved
through faith, and not in other selves. It's a gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. It's free. The gift is
there. We're just receivers of it, aren't
we? Oh my. So there's thousands of hearers
of the gospel that have no benefit, they derive no benefit from it.
They listen to the gospel Sunday after Sunday, year after year,
and they do not believe it. to the saving of their soul.
They feel no special need for the gospel, no special beauty
in it. They don't hate it, and they
don't oppose it. They might not even scoff at
it, but they don't receive it. They don't receive Christ. They like other things far better,
money, land, business, pleasure. They're all more interesting
to them than the salvation of their soul. They don't have any
care for their soul. Think about it. Think about it. Did we have
any care for our eternal soul before the Lord saved us? We
had no care at all. That was the last thing on our
minds, wasn't it? Until someone died, and it kind
of came home a little bit of eternity. And then, you know
what, after about two weeks, it's, eh, go back to, my. My oh my. Turn if you would to
Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12 and we'll look
here quick. Here's a parable of a rich fool.
He decided he had no care for his soul. Look at this. And one
of the company, Luke 12, verses 13 to 21. And one of the company
said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide
the inheritance with me. And he said unto me, unto him,
man who made me judge, or a divider over you. And he said unto them,
take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of things which he possesses. And he spake a
parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man
bought forth plentifully. So the Lord was blessed in the
land, right? Bought forth plenty. And he thought with himself,
saying, well, what shall I do? Because I have no room to bestow
all my fruits. I've got so much stuff. I don't
know what to do with it. My barns are bursting. And he said, this will I do.
I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow
all my fruits and goods. And I said to myself, soul, let's
sit down. We've got many years. We've got
another 25, 30, 40 years. No problem at all. That's what
this guy's saying. No worries. We're set, honey. See, he's not thinking of his
soul, is he? Not at all. I say to my soul, so thou hast
many goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, and eat, and
drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall these things
be which thou hast provided? So it is he that layeth up treasure
for himself, and is not rich toward God. Look at that. You buy all this stuff? Neil,
you said that one time. Had me laughing one time. Neil
said, why should I buy a new chainsaw when if I die, somebody
else is going to get it? Right? It's so true. Everything
we have, somebody else is going to get. We can't take anything
with us, nothing at all. Well, this fellow, he said, look
what I got. I got all this stuff. That's an awful state to be in.
May we examine our hearts. Let's read now verses six to
eight here. Verses six to eight. And the remnant took his servants
and treated them spitefully and slew them. Verse seven. But when
the king heard thereof, he was wroth and he sent his armies
and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Remember
what happened to Jerusalem in A.D. 70? Romans came in and destroyed
that city. What had they done to God's servants?
They despised them, didn't they? They hung his son on a tree. Verse 8, Then saith he to his
servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden are
not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, bid them to the marriage. So the servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all, as many as they found, both
bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with goods. My,
oh my. Look at that. Go into the highways.
Go in the highways. Go find that drunken fella. Go find that fella that's a rebel. It just says bad and good, right? Those who would be considered
good, those who would be considered bad. All of us can see ourselves in
the bad section, can't we? Oh my gosh. And look at this. All is provided. Sinner friend,
all is provided in Christ. Everything. Everything is provided
in Christ for the salvation of your soul. There's nothing lacking. And look at this, there's no
barriers. There's no barriers, there's no like, well you gotta
clean yourself up. Well, you gotta do this. Have
you noticed there's nothing that you have to do? Just come. Come as you are. Good and bad,
come. In one section, I think it's
in Luke, it says, go into the highways and the byways and compel them
to come. That's what we do in the gospel
preaching, don't we? Come to Christ. All is provided for the
salvation of your soul. Jew and Gentile, don't matter,
compel them to come. Bid them to come. Come and call
upon the name of the Lord and thou shall be saved. This is wonderful news for those
of us who are sinners. This means, this is sinners out
of every tribe, tongue, kindred, and nation, every color, it doesn't
matter. Come! Come. Doesn't matter how black your
sin is. Paul was a murderer. David was
an adulterer and a murderer. Come! Come to Christ! Flee to Christ! My, all things
are ready. The gospel sets an open door
of mercy and grace before fallen sinners and says, come. And notice no one's excluded
from the range of invitation. Whosoever shall come, let him
come. And take of the water of life freely. Now we know few
will enter, but all are bidden to come. And those who enter, what do
they find? That everything is ready. Nothing's left out. All the provision for my salvation
is there. Including the wedding garment. Including the wedding garment.
My, oh my. There's nothing to be made ready.
There's no barriers to stop one from coming. All that is needful
for our salvation in Christ, all things are ready. Ready by
the eternal purpose of God, too. Remember that. And this offer is still here
too, isn't it? The call is still here. It hasn't changed, has
it? Come to Christ. 2,000 years now, come to Christ. There's
been many who scoffed at it, but there's been many who've
come. There's many who've come in and
found all the provisions in Christ, a finished work, A perfect dinner
prepared, eh? Pardon by the blood of Christ
is ready. Righteousness in Christ is ready.
Peace with God in Christ is ready. Reconciliation with God is ready. Sonship by adoption in Christ
is ready. Sanctification in Christ is ready. Righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, clothed in that is ready. It's wonderful. Now let's look at verse 11. And notice here there's a guest
that didn't have a wedding garment on. When the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. Now the guests are wearing a
wedding garment. And this wedding garment, again,
represents the righteousness of Christ. And without a wedding garment,
which is the righteousness of Christ, we are then clothed in
our own righteousness. It doesn't say the man was naked.
He's just clothed in his own garments. See, that wedding garment was
provided by the king. Look at verses 12 and 13, and
look what happens to him. Look what happens to those who
don't have the wedding garment on. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how comest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless, he couldn't
say a word. Do you know sinners that face
Christ who die in their sins at the great white judgment throne?
They're gonna be speechless. They're not gonna be able to
utter a word. They're not gonna be able to utter a word, beloved,
as they stand there before the King of kings and the Lord of
lords. Oh my. He couldn't say anything. Then said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer
darkness. Look at that. Outer darkness. Where the wrath of God abides.
People say, oh, when I go to hell, I'm going to have a great
party with all my friends. No, you're going to be in outer darkness.
Weeping and gnashing the teeth. That's what the scripture says.
I used to hang around with a bunch of guys and we all used to say
that. Oh, we're going to go to hell and we're going to all party
together. It's just making light of it. Making light of such a
serious topic. Such a serious topic. Weeping
and gnashing of teeth out of darkness forever, where the wrath
of God abides on those who are there. And this man with the wedding
garment, again, is a type of those who pretend to be Christians.
They're just pretenders. Pretend to be Christians, but
they don't honor the Lord. They don't honor His atoning
sacrifice. They don't honor His holy name. They're not in accord
with the designs of the gospel feast, namely the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're in it all about themselves.
This guy says, I got my own wedding garment on. I don't need that
garment. I've got my own on today. King
says, you're out. And he's cast away. And the vast
majority of those who take up a profession of religion are
walking in the broad way. We looked at that last week in
Matthew 7, where, therefore, all things whatsoever you would
that men should do to you, Do ye even so to them, for this
is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way to destruction. And
many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And there be many,
or there be few that find it, very few. And the only way we
find that gate is by the grace of God, by the grace of God. Now let's read a little further
down. Let's actually turn to Matthew
7. Matthew 7, I'll read that portion again with you all. Turn
to Matthew 7, we'll read this. Ties in with the last verse.
Matthew 7, verses 12 to 14. Therefore all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do unto you, verse 12, Do ye even to
them, for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in the
straight gate. That's Christ. He's the straight
gate. Now there's a road that seemeth
right to men, and that's the broad way. For wide is the gate,
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. A lot of people
are on the broad road, aren't they? And many there be which
go in thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life. And few there be that find it. Then look a little further down,
and here's some religious folks which we looked at last week.
Verse 21 to 23. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to me, these are the folks that are like that guest with
their own wedding garment. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and cast
out devils and done all these things and many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart
from me that work iniquity. The man without the wedding garment
represents those right there. Self-righteousness. Trying to
establish their own righteousness. And again, our Lord didn't say
he was without a garment. He had a garment on, but it was
his own righteousness. See, those who came in were provided
with a garment. This guy snuck in. And how do we know they were
provided with a garment? Because every one of God's people are
provided with a garment by the king, aren't we? Oh my. And now let's look at the last
verse. The last verse, and here we're going to see the doctrine
of election and God's sovereign grace. Look at this. For many
are called, but few are chosen. See what I said earlier? People
will, they don't mind God choosing the nation of Israel. They don't
mind, they don't mind God choosing the holy angels and letting the
third fall. They don't mind that. They don't
mind God being sovereign over the weather, but oh man. You
start talking about God's sovereignty and salvation, well, there it
is right there, isn't it? And remember that verse I read in
1 John? We didn't choose him, did we? He chose us. Many are
called. There's the general call. That's
the call that goes out. Many are called, but few are
chosen. See, the general call is a call
from a man declaring the report, like I do. But the effectual
call is a call of God. And if you've experienced that
call, rejoice, beloved, because you're one of the few that are
chosen, all by the grace and mercy of God and all in Christ. And it's been so from eternity. just let that sink in this week.
Let us think about that this week. Many are called, but few
are chosen, and God chose me in eternity. There's nothing
in me at all. I didn't deserve that mercy,
grace, but God's word says it's so. Rejoice, and again I